31 jul

Both Russia and Syria have condemned the massacre in Khan al-Assal, committed by the Jabhat al-Nusrah affiliated “Liwaa Ansar al-Khilafa” brigade. Russia is calling for an immediate political settlement of the conflict in Syria. Syria’s Ambassador to Moscow stressed, that the al-Qaeda linked terrorists committed the massacre on 27 July to cover-up the use of chemical weapons in the area.
Russian Foreign Ministry called Khan al-Assal Massacre Genocide. The Russian Foreign Ministry sharply condemned the massacre committed by terrorist groups in the Khan al-Assal district of Aleppo, in which more than 123 Syrians, predominantly unarmed, non-combatant civilians were murdered.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry stressed, that the two terrorist groups had committed the crime of genocide, saying:
“The fighters of the two extremist groups have committed the crime of genocide by killing the captive Syrian officers as well as the pro-government civilians”.

The head of a UN chemical weapons investigation team, Ake Sellstrom, and the head of the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, visited Damascus last week at the invitation of the Syrian government to discuss access.
”On the basis of the information evaluated by the Mission to date and further to the understanding reached with the Government of Syria, the Mission will travel to Syria as soon as possible to contemporaneously investigate three of the reported incidents, including Khan al-Assal,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press office said in a statement.
The United Nations did not identify the other two locations to be visited by investigators.

Damascus has recently lashed out at the Saudi regime, accusing the kingdom of backing “terrorists” after Riyadh condemned Syria for accepting fighters from Hezbollah in its struggle againtst foreign-backed terrorists.
Syria has denounced that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which work closely with the United States and its European allies, are responsible for the conflict and the ongoing bloodshed in its territory.